


Warlock Strength

by zeteram



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: M/M, but they make it work anyway, lots of past trauma, they're Exos not sexos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:41:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22077118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeteram/pseuds/zeteram
Summary: Osiris has returned to the Tower for a visit, and he has a few important questions for Saint-14.Follow-up toTitan Logic, but with more making out.
Relationships: Osiris/Saint-14 (Destiny)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 136





	Warlock Strength

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not very confident this will remain canon compliant through the end of the season, but for now it works. Should probably read Titan Logic first to get the context for this one.

Several boxes of Lavender Ribbon cookies lay empty and their teacups had been refilled and emptied many times before Saint-14 and Osiris fell into a companionable silence. They’d talked about many things: current events and their mutual Guardian friend first, and then slowly on to the time they’d each spent looking for the other. There was much to say, and they’d only lightly skimmed the surface of it. They needed to do more, go deeper, but perhaps not yet. Osiris still had that flighty, nervous look around him that reminded Saint-14 mildly of Hawthorne’s lovely bird when there were too many people around, and probably for the same reason.

Saint found the constant noise and bustle of the City to be energizing and a relief after the Forest, but for Osiris it was the City that had rejected him and the Forest that had been his choice. It was going to be difficult to reconcile that between the two of them, but Saint had every confidence that they could find a way.

They had to. Not spending time with the most important person he had left wasn’t an option.

When the silence began to stretch to awkward instead of companionable, Saint sighed and offered his hand, palm up, to Osiris. “You are going to leave soon.” His voice was wistful but resigned. He’d known when he extended the invitation that it was for a visit only. Osiris still had timelines to protect and Cabal to kick out of the Forest. “You are a busy man, Brother. I am glad you came to visit me for this long.”

Osiris blinked as if startled and then frowned. Saint wasn’t quite sure why, though that was cleared up soon enough. “Long? I have business to attend to, yes, but this is no time at all.” He reached over and traced two concentric circles on Saint’s hand, light enough to cause a shiver of something he hadn’t felt in so long he could barely remember it at all. Osiris’s voice dropped lower even as his gaze focused on their hands instead of meeting Saint’s eyes. “Not compared to the time I spent thinking you were gone.”

Ah. Ah, so that was the way of things. His palm twitched almost against his will as Osiris continued to gently trace patterns into it, but he didn’t move it away. “Maybe it was as long as I spent without hearing a human voice?” He’d had Geppetto, thank the Traveler, but that was different. “A real one. The Vex, they are bad at pretending to be you.”

Osiris smirked despite his tense body language and Saint relaxed incrementally. Always susceptible to flattery, Osiris. Saint-14 continued. “Maybe it was as long as I spent without taking off my armor because I could not.” It was partially off now; they’d both decided it was easier to eat cookies and drink tea without gauntlets and helmets.

He reached a finger up lightly to touch Osiris’s knuckle in return. An Exo’s hands were even more sensitive than human hands, in some ways, and this sort of light figure-tracing was proof Osiris remembered that much. “It would be better if you did not leave,” he admitted. “Everything is changed, even you and I. But if you are here, I know it is not the Forest.”

Osiris bit back a smile and he met Saint’s eyes again. “With as much time as I spend in the Forest, hardly anyone else would be able to say that. But I don’t have to tell you there is one thing they cannot simulate.”

In his free hand, Osiris called up a tiny ball of Solar Light; Saint sighed happily and his optics dimmed. Titans might not have the same way of externally manipulating the Light that Warlocks did, but he could still feel it strong and pulsing in his friend, as he always had. Osiris was a beacon he’d searched for in vain, and to have him here again was the deepest form of satisfaction he could ask for.

Osiris snorted in amusement and Saint’s eyes brightened again as he refocused. “Why do you laugh?”

Banishing the little ball of Light, Osiris gestured toward the wide windows of Saint’s quarters, unsurprisingly filled with birdfeeders. “There is no greater concentration of Light in the entire system than at the Tower, but you want mine nearby to feel that you are truly safe again?”

Ignoring Osiris’s dubious tone, Saint beamed at him. Trust Osiris to see to the heart of the matter. “Yes.” Osiris looked at him, as if expecting Saint to elaborate, but he didn’t. Surely he didn’t need to repeat himself.

Osiris opened his mouth to complain again, probably some excuse about how it was his fault Saint had got lost in the first place or how the Vanguard of the present day was better at keeping the City safe or some other irrelevant thing, so Saint cut him off.

“You broke time for me, my Brother.” Osiris looked like he wanted to protest that, too, so Saint kept talking. “And that is not even the most remarkable part. You are exiled from the City, and you never stop fighting the Darkness. They cast you out. You owe them nothing, and you do everything for them.” Now Osiris was still, like a Hunter that wasn’t sure if they wanted to hide or come into the open. Like a bird. Saint reached up with his thumb again to stroke at Osiris’s knuckles reassuringly. “And even that? No. The most remarkable part is that for my sake, you asked for help when you could not do it alone.”

Ha! That surprised Osiris, all right. But it was in a good way; he no longer looked like he was going to fly away. He even looked a little embarrassed. “Twice,” he muttered.

“Oh? What was that?”

Osiris glared, but there was no anger in it. “I asked for help with you twice,” he repeated, more clearly. “First, when I sent the Guardian back to your battle with House Rain and accidentally caused that ridiculous Savior Guardian prophecy I always hated.”

Saint laughed, delighted. “So it was you! And you did hate it!”

Osiris rubbed the side of his face, but he was smiling now. “And that let me track your Light to the Martyr Mind. I was already knee-deep in paradoxes myself; I had no choice but to ask again.”

As if Osiris could ever have ‘no choice’ about something. Saint wanted to squeeze his hand reassuringly, but that would mean letting Osiris stop tracing those little patterns into his palm, and he wasn’t ready to give that up. He didn’t even want to call attention to it in case Osiris wasn’t doing it consciously.

“Only you would think that is the most egregious of my transgressions,” Osiris continued. “Even Ikora thinks breaking time was worse.”

Saint-14 waved his free hand in a dismissive gesture. “Warlocks. Always, you look at the big picture when the small picture is just as important.” Osiris raised an eyebrow, so Saint elaborated. “Our Guardian friend, he told me about the Root Mind. First time you get help in decades, yes?”

“More than a century,” Osiris acknowledged, quieter again.

“And all of a sudden, you destroy it! And Ikora, she asks you about the Moon and the Undying Mind, and you help her, and together you change the whole future!” Saint knew more about that future than he’d admitted to anyone else so far, even Ikora. He’d seen it himself in the Forest, and as much as he’d been focused on the Fallen back when he’d been in the Vanguard, he knew Osiris wasn’t wrong about the Vex. It was a war on several fronts, and if they were making progress now it was only because they’d lost so much along the way that they now refused to give up. It was an attitude he could relate to on several levels.

“Changed, yes, but it’s still in flux; I cannot call things any better until the Cabal stop meddling.” Osiris’s smile was fading.

“Big picture again. Small picture, Osiris asks for help and the Vex stop controlling the future.” He paused. “Is why I know you cannot stay yet,” Saint continued. “Even if it makes me feel better to have you here, where I can keep my eye on you.” He tucked in his chin so he could look severely at Osiris, who was suddenly looking uncertain again. What now?

“ _Yet_ ,” Osiris mused. “A strange choice of words from someone just now returned to linear time.”

Saint’s voice softened after a short pause. “I am here in the City I always dreamed of. To see children playing in the streets, people living their lives even after this Red War, it is what I always wanted. To have a quiet house where I can rest and feel the Light all around me, where truly I can feel hope for our people again? Maybe is not too much to think you will join me, too, when you are ready.”

“Another small picture, then?” Osiris’s smile was back, softer this time.

“A picture with Osiris and Saint-14 both in it,” Saint agreed. “You see?”

“Saint.” Osiris almost sounded like he was asking a question, but he wasn’t being very clear about it, so Saint waited for him to continue. Finally Osiris sighed and stopped tracing those patterns into Saint’s upturned hand and instead laid their palms together.

Saint caught his breath, not sure if that warmth was Solar Light or the heat of Osiris alone. “Why do you stop?”

“That’s twice you’ve given me out, if I wanted to go. I can spare a few more hours before Sagira will pester me to leave.” Osiris took a breath even as Saint looked at him sharply. “I have one more question for you; I’ll understand your answer either way. But I want you to know that regardless, I’ll come back as often as you’ll have me, as often as I can spare it.” Saint felt a warmth in his own chest now, and he knew it wasn’t Solar Light. “Provided the Vanguard doesn’t become overly annoyed with me, of course.”

“I will talk to them if you cause trouble,” Saint promised, feeling oddly breathless. “Your question?”

Gently but deliberately, Osiris lifted his hand and leaned down to place a kiss on Saint’s palm, lips dry as bird wings and twice as light. “In that picture of yours, am I only your friend?” He looked up again, his dark eyes a magnetic lure that Saint-14 couldn’t look away from even if he’d wanted to.

He didn’t want to.

“No,” he admitted, and lifted his hand up to cup Osiris’s cheek in a gentle caress. “You are more than my friend already.” And this wasn’t the right time to call him ‘Brother’ again, not with the actions to match those words. Osiris was clearly having some very non-brotherly thoughts right now, and he looked very nervous that he’d stepped over some kind of line.

The easy thing to do, for a human, would have been to kiss him at this juncture. But for all that he was very close to human, an Exo’s mouth just wasn’t made for such things. Instead, he stood up and closed the distance between them, moving slowly in case he’d read the situation wrong and Osiris didn’t want this (since Light knew he couldn’t always tell what was going on in a Warlock’s mind, especially this one). But Osiris didn’t back off or bolt, even when Saint held out his arms and gathered him up in them and nuzzled his neck in a very clearly intimate gesture.

“I will be more than your friend, too. You will be gentle with me?” Saint asked quietly. “It has been a very long time.”

Osiris laughed, also quietly, and began running his hands over Saint’s cranium with a relieved look on his face. “You could break me with any part of your body, and you ask me to be gentle. I will be gentle if you will be patient. I have not been with anyone since the Reef Wars ended.”

“The Reef Wars are over? No, no, I kid.” He set Osiris down, having carried the Warlock over to the bedroom, and began stripping off his remaining armor and underclothes. As much fun as it would be to undress Osiris, Saint could admit he had no idea how some of those Warlock clothes fastened. Was the rope actually holding his coat up or was it decorative? Why did they make those robes so complicated instead of nice segmented armor, like Titans had?

The robes joined the armor on the floor quickly enough, and Osiris looked him up and down with an appraising gleam in his eyes. “Do not worry,” Saint-14 said. “First thing I do when I come to the City is have a nice deep-cleaning bath.”

Osiris looked pained. “That isn’t--I was expecting more scars, Saint. I know you were without the Light once or twice.”

“Twice,” he confirmed softly. “Once with the Martyr Mind, once only a few years ago. Must have been the Red War. It did not last long.” Saint shivered at the memory; it had almost made him wish he’d gone with the Guardian to the present day instead of having to actually be cautious about his battle tactics for once.

“You were that close to the present,” Osiris murmured, and he pressed one hand against Saint’s chest where a heart would be on a human body; it was still warm, and pulsed with his own body’s rhythm, but his circulatory system was segmented out so as not to have a single point of failure.

Saint-14 caught Osiris’s hand and folded their fingers together, pulling him close so their bodies were flush. “You are in the present with me now, yes? Not thinking about being alone again?” Because it would be far too easy to fall down that path again instead of living in the moment they had together. Living in the moment had kept Saint going for far longer than it should have.

“I’m here with you now,” Osiris admitted, sounding amused. “And we really are doing this.”

“Yes,” Saint said, unable to hide the smugness in his voice as he started running his hands down Osiris’s back and toward his firm buttocks (gently). “But is okay if you want to stop.”

“I started this,” Osiris growled, and Saint’s eyes lit up in delight as the smaller man pushed him over to the bed and directed him to lay on his back. Osiris was unusual among Guardians due to his older appearance, but he was just as vigorous as any newly-minted Lightbearer; it hadn’t taken much at all for him to get erect, and he even gave himself a few strokes to help it along as he moved into position to straddle Saint. “I won’t stop now, not if you want it, too.”

“Yes,” Saint moaned, squirming under Osiris’s weight even as he reached over to give him a hand with that stroking. “You remember how it goes with Exos?” He paused, looking suddenly worried. “You have been with an Exo before, yes?”

Osiris looked up to the ceiling in a plea of frustration and Saint almost laughed again. Good thing he didn’t, because instead of answering in words Osiris buried one of his hands into a sensory junction and Saint let out his breath in a loud moan at the sudden feeling of melting with pleasure. Clearly Osiris did remember.

Saint reached up to Osiris’s chest to squeeze at one of his nipples and run his fingers down the hard muscles. It was a little bit unfair that he only had his two hands to work with and not his mouth, but as best anyone could tell, much like eating, sexual pleasure had clearly been an aftermarket effect with Exos. Just as eating was psychologically necessary to most Exos, so was sex. There were a few who didn’t care for one or the other, and their bodies certainly didn’t need either, but their minds? Saint knew with absolute certainty as Osiris’s tongue started working one of his other sensory junctions that it was good for the mind to occasionally lose sight of everything but the feeling of someone you cared deeply about giving you the sheerest joy.

It was even better than headbutting a Minotaur, and Light knew there were as few things as satisfying as headbutting a Minotaur.

“My turn,” he gasped. “Please.” Osiris grunted and finished his probing, following it up with a swift kiss to Saint’s mouth. Humans made up for their comparative lack of erogenous zones with the dangerous intensity of the few they had; Osiris had to support himself over Saint with both arms when Saint began stroking him in earnest. The look on his face was priceless, at least until he buried it in Saint’s neck and started gasping out his name helplessly, thrusting into Saint’s hands and holding on through force of will alone.

Osiris had no lack of willpower, though, and so when Saint asked a quiet question and got an affirmative, he withdrew his hands back to his sides and caught his breath. Osiris sat back on his knees and helped turn Saint over to be on his own knees and grasping at the headboard. “Gently,” he called back, half mocking, and got a snappish but amused “Be patient” in response.

Saint-14 was patient, and Osiris was gentle. He pressed in until he found the hidden sensory junction, confirmed by Saint’s gasping, and reached around to work the erectile flesh with one hand. Aftermarket or not, someone had put a lot of effort into making sure Exos could have sex with whatever version of human genitals they wanted to, and Saint quickly forgot any doubts he’d had about whether Osiris knew what he was doing.

But what finally pushed him over the edge wasn’t sensory junctions or erectile flesh or anything of the sort, in the end. It was Osiris’s voice with a desperate admission, “ _I’m never losing you again_ ,” followed by the release of his Light as Osiris burst into phoenix wings and spent himself inside Saint-14.

He knew. He’d been paying attention earlier and he _knew_ that would let Saint feel so completely safe and at home that he could let go and lose himself, and he collapsed on the bed and let himself ride the pleasure until the room faded back to normal light instead of Light.

When he came to, he was cuddling around an Osiris whose cranky expression didn’t exactly match the soft contentment in his eyes. Saint pressed his mouth against Osiris’s forehead in an imitation of a kiss.

“A few more hours, you said?”

Osiris growled, and Saint laughed, and everything was as it should be.

**Author's Note:**

> Sagira's going to have a fit when she gets back from visiting Ikora and finds out what happened, isn't she?


End file.
